Louis Sachar’s Holes is headed to the screen again, but this time with a female lead, Variety reports.
Sachar’s children’s book, published in 1998 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, tells the story of Stanley Yelnats IV, who is sentenced to do time at a Texas boot camp for a theft he didn’t commit. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, which won the National Book Award and the Newbery Medal, “Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this rugged, engrossing adventure.”
The novel was adapted into a 2003 film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Shia LaBeouf, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, and Patricia Arquette.
In the new adaptation, which is being developed by Disney+, the character of Stanley will be reimagined as a teenage girl. The series is being written by Alina Mankin, known for her work on Anne With an E and Lodge 49. Liz Phang (Locke & Key, Yellowjackets) will be the showrunner. Both will serve as executive producers alongside Drew Goddard (Daredevil, The Good Place).
“[Mankin and Phang have] done a wonderful job capturing Louis Sachar’s unique spirit,” Goddard told Variety. “To say much more about what they have in store would spoil all the fun.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
